Los Angeles-based author, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla was born on June 5, 1967, to Ismaili parents, Shiraz Dhalla and Parviz Dhalla, in Mombasa, Kenya. He was raised by his maternal grandparents in Mombasa, but his mother returned to care for him after his father was murdered when he was 5. He received a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Woodbury University, USA, in 1990. At 13, he published his first article in a national magazine, VIVA. He has since written for various publications, including Instinct, Genre, Angeleno, Detour, and Details, and is the Editor of the lifestyle E-zine Indulge. He has two major publications till date: Ode to Lata (2002) and The Exiles (2011). His writing primarily deals with the experiences of queer Indian Kenyan immigrants in the USA, specifically Ismaili men in the American West Coast, focusing on issues of trauma in the past and negotiations in the present, wherein sexuality, memory, and belonging intersect to shape the double diaspora narrative. As one of the earliest writers focusing on the Indian American queer diaspora, Dhalla is an important figure in contemporary Indian diasporic literature in English.